1 Corinthians 15

15:1-58 Some people in the church had doubts about a future resurrection of the dead. Paul reassures them and, perhaps in response to their skeptical questions, discusses the nature of a resurrection body.15:1-11 Paul summarizes the Good News that he preached.15:1 At the heart of the Good News stands the message of the atoning death and resurrection of Christ (see 15:3-4; Rom 5:8-10; 6:5-11).

15:2 if you continue to believe: Those who continue firm in their faith will be saved (cp. Matt 10:22; 24:13; John 15:6; Gal 5:4; Col 1:23; Heb 6:4-6; contrast 1 Cor 1:8; Rom 8:38-39; Phil 1:6; Heb 6:9).

15:3 The heart of the Good News is that Christ died for our sins (see Rom 3:24-25; 5:8-10; Gal 1:4; 1 Thes 5:9-10).

15:4 just as the Scriptures said: See Ps 16:10; Hos 6:2; Jon 1:17; Matt 12:40; Acts 2:24-32.

15:5 He was seen by Peter: See Luke 24:34. • then by the Twelve: See Matt 28:16-17; Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36; John 20:19.

15:6 he was seen by more than 500: We have no other account of this event. • most of whom are still alive: When this letter was written (around AD 53–56), the factuality of Christ’s resurrection could be verified by consulting living eyewitnesses.

15:7 This James was almost certainly Jesus’ brother, who became a leader of the Jerusalem church after Jesus’ death (see Mark 6:3; John 7:1-5; Gal 1:19; cp. Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18).

15:8-9 as though I had been born at the wrong time (or as though I were stillborn): This phrase can refer to a miscarriage or stillbirth. Here it might express the unusual manner of Paul’s conversion, or the derogatory view some opponents held of his apostleship, or his own sense of unworthiness to be an apostle. The overall emphasis is on the extraordinary grace of God to Paul as a former persecutor of Christ’s people (see Gal 1:13; Phil 3:6; cp. Acts 8:3; 9:1-2). • I also saw him: Paul came face to face with the risen Christ at his conversion (see 1 Cor 9:1; Acts 9:3-6; Gal 1:15-16).

15:10 Paul’s awareness of God’s extraordinary special favor (literally grace) to him resulted in an extraordinary response on his part. But even that must be understood as an expression of God . . . working through me by his grace (see 2 Cor 4:7; Gal 2:20; Col 1:27).

15:11 The important thing is the message, not the messengers (cp. 1:10-12).

15:12-34 Paul now makes the case for a future resurrection.15:12-20 Christ’s resurrection confirms the reality of the future resurrection.15:12 Some believers in Corinth apparently had a difficult time accepting the Jewish notion of a bodily resurrection of the dead, preferring instead the Greek notion of the immortality of the soul (cp. Acts 17:18, 32).

15:14-18 If Christ has not risen from the dead, then Christian faith is useless. But in reality, Jesus’ resurrection is proof that the sacrifice of Christ fully atoned for human sins (see 15:3). If Christ has not been raised, then human beings remain unforgiven, under the judgment of God—still guilty of their sins (see Rom 3:19; Eph 2:1-3).

15:19 Without eternal life, faithful believers are more to be pitied than anyone in the world because they suffer persecution and deprivation. But they find their joy in anticipating what lies beyond this life, as did both Jesus (see Heb 12:2) and Paul (see 2 Cor 4:16-18; Phil 1:21-23; 3:7-11).

15:20 In the Old Testament, the first crop was dedicated to God (see Exod 23:19). Christ’s resurrection is the first of a great harvest of God’s people who will be resurrected (see Col 1:18).

15:21-23 Adam’s sin contrasts with Christ’s resurrection (cp. 15:45-49).

15:24-28 Christ is the Lord of all things, even death itself. Nevertheless, he remains subordinate to God his Father.15:24 The phrase every ruler and authority and power refers to spiritual powers who oppose Christ (cp. Rom 8:38; Eph 1:21; Col 2:10, 15; 1 Pet 3:22).

15:25 This paraphrase of Ps 110:1 is applied to Jesus (cp. Heb 1:13). • beneath his feet: In the ancient Near East, victorious kings were depicted with their feet on the necks of their defeated enemies.

15:27 “God has put all things under his authority”: See Ps 8:6; cp. Matt 22:44.

15:29 Some first-century Christians apparently practiced baptism-by-proxy for dead unbelievers whom they wished to be saved. Paul neither endorses nor condemns the practice; he simply uses it as evidence for belief in resurrection. There is no other reference to such a practice in early Christian literature.

15:30-32 The apostles’ willingness to risk their lives was based on their conviction that there is life beyond death. If there is no resurrection, such suffering is pointless.

15:32 fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus: Paul refers figuratively to his struggles with opponents in Ephesus (see 16:8; Acts 19:23-41; 2 Cor 1:8; 4:8-12; 11:23-28). Watching condemned prisoners fighting wild beasts and getting mauled to death was a common form of entertainment in the Roman world.

15:33 “bad company corrupts good character”: This quotation from the Greek poet Menander (300s BC) is a warning not to listen to those who are teaching wrong things.

15:34 some of you don’t know God at all: Paul sharply rebukes those who prided themselves on their knowledge but remained skeptical of resurrection.

15:35-58 Paul discusses the nature of resurrection bodies, perhaps responding to skeptical questions. In the Greco-Roman world, belief in the immortality of the soul was common, but not belief in the resurrection of the body.

15:36 What a foolish question! Paul’s strong response suggests that the question is skeptical. It might also imply that the answer is unknowable.

15:37-39 Just as the shape of a plant does not resemble the seed, yet the plant’s growth is determined by the kind of seed, so the resurrection body will be unlike the present body, yet identifiable as belonging to the same person.

15:40-41 Everything that God has made has its own glory—its own unique beauty and magnificence. The resurrection body will be unlike anything else.

15:42-44 Just as growing plants differ from the seeds out of which they sprout, so resurrection bodies will be vastly unlike our mortal bodies.

15:45-49 Adam and Christ founded two distinct humanities: One is natural and earthly, enslaved to sin and death; the other is spiritual and heavenly, purified and destined for life. Adam represents the natural (physical) body and Christ the spiritual (resurrection) body. See also 15:21-22; Rom 5:12-21.15:45-46 Just as Christ’s life-giving Spirit supersedes the natural life, the spiritual body will supersede the physical body.

15:47 made from the dust of the earth: Adam’s earthly origin (Gen 2:7) is here contrasted with Christ’s heavenly origin.

15:48 Earthly people (literally those of the dust): Like Adam, natural human beings are under the curse of sin and death. All return to dust (see Gen 3:19)—they all die. • heavenly people are like the heavenly man: Those who belong to Christ are like him in having an unending spiritual life.

15:49 Like the earthly man, Adam, we have physical bodies in this life. But we will someday be like Christ, the heavenly man, experiencing the Kingdom of God in resurrection bodies (cp. Rom 6:4-14).

15:50 Physical bodies cannot inherit God’s Kingdom. Only a spiritual, resurrected body can experience the Kingdom in all its fullness (cp. John 4:24).

15:51 The Good News reveals the previously unknown secret of resurrection. • We will not all die: Paul might have expected the future resurrection in his own lifetime (cp. 15:52; 1 Thes 4:15, 17).

15:52 Cp. 1 Thes 4:13-17.

15:54 “Death is swallowed up in victory”: Resurrection defeats the ultimate enemy, death, just as the power of the Spirit enables believers to transcend sin here and now (see Rom 8:2, 11).

15:55 This quotation (Hos 13:14) assures believers that they have nothing to fear from death. • Death is like the sting of a scorpion.

15:57 The death and resurrection of Christ ends the dominating power of sin and death (see Rom 6:14; 8:2; 10:4).

15:58 Nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless: There will be eternal rewards for those who serve him faithfully (see 3:12-15).